Too Scared To Win!

Does the fear of failure immobilise you to such an extent that you’ve convinced yourself it’s better not to even try? Chirag Mohanty Samal tells you how to break out of this cycle and live fearlessly

- Chirag Mohanty Samal

Ruhana Ahmed*, 21, graduated from one of the premier fashion institutes of the country. Gung-ho about her future in the industry, she wrote to fashion houses for an internship and was taken in. She looked all set for a promising future—till her internship was completed and that job offer she was confident about never materialised. She went on to intern with other fashion houses, but wasn’t absorbed anywhere. Eventually, Ahmed decided to stop trying. On the brink of depression, she reached out to Rachna K Singh, clinical psychologist and life coach at Artemis Hospital, Gurgaon.Singh immediately understood what was going on. She says, “The greater the effort we put into achieving a goal, the greater our sense of failure at not getting there.” Ahmed had been trying for over a year to get a job and when she kept getting rejected, all her optimism was replaced with self-doubt. “Her fear of rejection impeded her ability to address the problem,” says Singh, who helped Ahmed face her fears instead of avoiding it.